


A Smile Means the World

by PhoenixStar73



Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: A child's growing awareness between good and evil, Alec and Madzie's friendship, Canon Compliant, Developing Friendships, Episode: s02e10 By the Light of Dawn, Gen, Innocence, Life Lessons, M/M, POV Alec Lightwood, POV Magnus Bane, POV Multiple, POV of a 6 year old warlock, references s02e05 Dust And Shadows
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-13
Updated: 2019-10-13
Packaged: 2020-12-14 11:13:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,016
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21014834
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PhoenixStar73/pseuds/PhoenixStar73
Summary: Madzie did not know much, having just left her Nana's home (where she has lived during her short life span), led by Valentine to the New York Institute, where she is supposed to keep some bad people busy while Valentine achieves his own agenda.  She did not expect to run into a certain individual though once she portals in -- the one individual whose smile had the power to affect this very impressionable little mind.  Cue the events that follow...POV's/backgrounds from Madzie as she navigates her world, POV Alec, a little bit of POV Magnus at the end.Season 2 Episode 10 By the Light of Dawn





	A Smile Means the World

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Bengi](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bengi/gifts).

> I have always wondered about Madzie and Alec's thoughts during this very tumultous time, especially as Alec is being unexpectedly thrown into the elevator during the confrontation. This is canon-compliant

_Alec POV_

The alarms rang in the Ops Center. Someone – or something had breached the wards at the New York Institute.

Alec had been at the main table, discussing Valentine-related operations. Now they all jumped at the sound of the alert. “Main door!” Alec stated firmly, as everyone ran toward the main hallway.

An almost disintergrated portal was hanging in the middle of the hallway, with a small figure in front of it. Alec’s team behind him did not seem to be making any moves toward it. In fact it was barely visible; Alec had learned how to spot these things, during his time working with Magnus. But how was that possible, thought Alec distractedly, didn’t Magnus strengthen these wards so no one can portal in and out of the Institute? Then he focused on the little girl standing in front. Behind him, there was no sounds of any Shadowhunters activating anything at the moment. 

They were all too dumbfounded at the sight of this little girl with the adorable solemn face, cute braids, and demin jacket and dress ensemble.

“ Hello, Madzie,” he stated, looking at her carefully. He made sure his hands were visible, to show the girl that he meant her no harm. This was the little girl who Alec had encountered back at Iris Rouse a few days ago.

Madzie’s eyes, betraying no emotion at this point, seemed to flicker, and kindness filled them as she looked directly at Alec. That second passed, and it was back to her stoic gaze.

“Hold your fire,” Alec stated to the team. “She’s a Warlock.”

This little girl warlock. With a flowered purple scarf at her neck.

A long silence followed, with no one making a move. Suddenly, the side elevator door had somehow opened, distracting Alec. He turned. Out of the corner of his eye he had caught Madzie flick her wrist in a inconspicuous motion.

Suddenly, Alec was *thrown*, with a speed and force way beyond what his brain could comprehend, *into* that damn elevator. ‘Oh what the….” Alec thought, his brain way too slow to match up against the actions. By the time his brain registered that thought, the doors had already closed. His eyes widened as he frantically flailed and knocked on the locked elevator door. 

“Madzie! Madzie!!” he yelled, to no avail. He tried to pry the doors of the elevator open, but it was useless.

There was silence from what he could tell, on the other side of the door. Then a hissing sound, shortlived. Then *thud*, reverberating. 12 times. Thud, thud, thud.

His team has 12. 

Or rather, *had* 12, he realized slowly, a feeling of horror growing in his stomach.

************

_Madzie POV_

The enormous, unyielding Gothic structure of the Institute loomed before her. Madzie looked up at it in awe.

Besides Nana’s brownstone, and the park the other day, Madzie had not really had a chance to see the outside world. She had been pretty much been living with Iris Rouse and the various girls that would come to visit every day, a few at a time. At least before Iris, her Nana, would come and lead them away. And then Madzie would not see them again. Sometimes there were cries and yelling coming from the recedes of the rickety old brownstone by the end of the long spiraling staircase leading downstairs, but Nana would just smile and tell her they were nothing. 

There had been no reason for Madzie to *not* believe her, since it was her Nana…

Until the other day, she recalled. She had encountered a very nice, tall man with large hazel eyes, all dressed in black. She had thought it odd, since there had only been girls coming into the home. He had asked her where Nana’s room was. And automatically she had pointed upward, since Nana’s room was on the top floor. She had felt a cold burst of air on her neck, where her scarf had fallen. The things on her neck were exposed! Nana had said they were gills, and never to expose them normally. From her reaction to them, she only assumed that they were considered bad. 

And Madzie did not want to be a bad child.

Her eyes widened, and immediately she set her arm down, her scarf falling back into place.

The guy had not even flinched. Or turned away. Like some of the other bigger people had done.

“Cool gills,” the guy said sincerely, his eyes crinkling, while his mouth widened into one of the most beautiful toothy smiles the girl had ever seen. And she had not seen many smiles directed at her. Especially with the gills at her neck, which she mostly forgot about, except when they tingled occasionally to remind her that they were there. For use at her disposal, as Nana had said. Whatever that meant, she thought, her 6 yo brain not knowledgeable enough to comprehend that.

No one had ever smiled at her before, or looked at that part of her neck and smiled. Bashfully, she had looked down, her cheeks reddening.

Later, she became very confused – and distressed -- when Nana had yelled at that nice tall man, and sent him hurling into the wall. He dropped to the floor, and he no longer was moving. He was hurt! You don’t do that to nice people! she thought. “Nana, No!!!” she somehow found her voice amidst the confusion. Nana had turned to her in shock, as she was not known to speak much. Nana had just scooped her up and walked away. But Madzie’s gaze had lingered on the poor man, on the floor amidst pieces of plaster that had fallen off the walls when he had crashed into it. And confusion was etched all over her face.

Later, when they were in the park, a bald man had approached Nana, and they were talking quietly. Madzie, of course did not know what they were saying. Madzie had been too busy playing on her own, on the grass a few feet away. Some men dressed in black suddenly appeared on both sides of her. She looked to Nana, who gave her a thumbs up, along with a smile, although it did not reach her eyes. Madzie, of course, was too young to realize what that meant.

So when the bald man had indicated for Madzie to go along with him and the men dressed in black, she had gone with them. The bald man had seemed nice. He would play with her and push her on the swings, even gave her ice cream. He would also tell her many stories, something about Shadowhunters and Downworlders, and that bad people existed that he need to rid the world of. And that he needed her help to get the large gold sword to the basement of the Institute. He told her she would be a great helper if she could go to the Institute and get rid of some of these bad people. And also they could go get Nana, who was being held by the bad people. The bald man sounded so sincere, she had agreed to it. After all, he had more ice cream to give her later if she did a great job, right? She loved ice cream, and especially with sprinkles!

Recalling all of that, she took a deep breath. She summoned a portal, remembering what Nana and this man had told her about the wards currently in place. For someone like her, this was innately too easy to get through. Somehow she was born with this power to do so. 

As the portal glimmered in front of her, she stepped through.

Loud sounds suddenly filled the air, and she winced as she stepped through the portal. She was in a nice hallway with high ceilings. And suddenly faced with a group of people who were looking at her cautiously -- *including* that nice tall guy who had smiled at her at Nana’s house. Her mind raced a mile a minute, which her 6yo brain tried to keep up with. *He* was here? But the man had said that this was a place for bad people! Hmm, but if someone like *him* was here, then not all the people could be all bad right? She could not imagine him to be part of the bad people. He did smile at her and did not look at her like she was a monster due to the things on her neck. She had a good feeling about him.

And yet there they were, at an impasse. No one moved. Rather they looked at her rather curiously. 

Then Madzie had a thought. What if *he* was in trouble, and the people behind this guy were going to hurt *him*?

_ Well she couldn’t have that. _

Flicking her wrist quickly, the elevator doors opened in the side wall. She caught the guy turning briefly in surprise to the action next to him. She flicked her wrist again, and in one fell swoop, the tall guy *flew* into the elevator. She flicked the doors shut. Good, at least he would be okay.

Now for the real work, she thought. Carefully she touched the scarf on her neck, and removed it. The gills on her neck were exposed. As she had practiced with Nana, she willed an essence out of the gills in her neck. Suddenly everyone dropped left and right. 

In the course of 5 minutes, all 12 Shadowhunters lay lifeless on the ground. Simultaneously, there had been loud pounding on the elevator door, where she had thrown the guy. But now it was silent as well. 

Hmm as long as he was safe, she thought. She did get to do her job, after all, since it was to provide a distraction while the bald man went to take care of other things. But some thing now felt wrong about it. If the bald man had told her that everyone in the Institute was bad, but that this guy was part of it, could it be possible that the bald guy was wrong about this too?

The doors opened, and the bald guy came through the door. He smiled at the sight of the fallen Shadowhunters. He bent down and gazed at Madzie.

“So,” he said gently,” How *is* my favorite little warlock?” Madzie looked at him, and allowed him to lead her through the other hallway toward the 2nd floor of the Institute.

************

_Alec’s POV_

Meanwhile, Alec had finally gotten out of the elevator. The sight that he came across was harrowing. 

His team, all dead on the floor. 

And Madzie had, for one reason or another, had chosen to save him by throwing him in the elevator. He rubbed the back of his left shoulder, which had taken the brunt when he was thrown in. The oh-so brief kindness in Madzie’s eyes when he had acknowledged her, gave him pause. She must have remembered their short but sweet exchange at Iris Rouse’s when he had smiled at her. 

Suddenly Alec was blown away by the thought that _she had chosen to spare his life._ He had approached her, defenseless and open. 

_She could have killed him._ But she didn’t. 

Just another reason why the views of the Circle did not make sense, Alec reasoned. Downworlders were not slaves to their demonic side; they were able to reason and make decisions, just as much as Nephilim were. They were not to be discounted or to look down upon. With Magnus, he had experienced and learned enough to believe wholeheartedly in this. Now, with this whole experience with Madzie, his beliefs about “doing unto others as they have done unto you” were confirmed. He was convinced more than *ever* that the Circle needed to be stopped, and that if everyone started treating the Downworlder community more like equals, that an everlasting world of peace and trust could prevail amongst all communities.

At least, that’s what he would propose, if he ever got to a rank high enough to really make a difference. 

But at this rate, with crazy Aldertree at the helm, that was impossible. 

As it was, the Institute was really going down the tubes....

************

_Madzie’s POV_

Oh my god, Madzie thought horrified, as she watched the bald man slit the poor guy’s throat. This is *not* a good guy. 

The bald guy had somehow found this young man, who seemed a bit pale, and tied him up in a chair. The bald man had just finished talking to someone on the phone, telling them they needed to come or else the guy was going to die. “We are playing a game, Madzie.” Well, Madzie was a bit too young to know of many games, but she was *sure* that good games did not involve a knife, and cutting someone’s throat. The guy, who she had heard someone call “Simon”, was hyperventilating and his hands were moving frantically after his throat was slit. Then he seemed to slump over in his chair, his chest still heaving slightly.

Madzie had nodded at the bald guy, to acknowledge that they were playing the game. However, she had already started to take a few steps backwards. There was a funny feeling in her stomach, and she did not feel very good. How she wished that the tall guy was here to help her. So far he had been the only one who was nice to her and had not asked her for anything.

Suddenly a girl with long red hair was led into the room. “Oh my god,” the girl said. Valentine stepped aside to let her pass, and she sat down on a chair next to Simon. “Stay with me, Simon,” she said as she took out her knife and slit her wrist. “Drink from me,” she stated. 

“No, Clary,” Simon muttered weakly. But his blood lust was too strong, and her wrist was being offered. Taking a deep breath, he bit down on her wrist. He sucked and sucked. Clary’s eyes rolled back, and tears were running down her face. Suddenly the bald man yelled, “He’s drinking too much!” 

Madzie got scared; she hated yelling. The bald guy was now focused on the girl, who was letting the young man bite her on the wrist. She looked over at the door which was left ajar by the henchmen. She walked out into the hallway, wanting to get away as fast as possible. 

She just kept walking down the long hallway. She just wanted to get away from all of this. It had been way too much in one day for a 6yo girl to bear.

She stopped after awhile. She looked left, and she looked right. There was no one in the halls.

Suddenly a tall, hulking man dressed in black came into the hallway. He yelled, “Hey!” 

He walked toward her, his hand stretched out to grab her. She quickly left go of her scarf. 

He coughed and clutched at his throat, and dropped where he stood. She just looked at him.

She never felt so alone. A tear slipped out from the corner of her eye.

************

_Magnus’s POV_

Hm it’s sure eerily empty up here, Magnus thought, as he walked down the hallway. He had portaled in from the outside, while Clary had gone downstairs to scope out the main floor. As he turned the corner, he started seeing bodies…and more bodies. He bent down to palpate for a pulse. Nothing. But no visible injuries. Hmm, Magnus thought. 

Then he saw the little girl at the end of the hallway. Cute little girl, with braids, wearing a dress and covered with a demin jacket. A purple scarf with flowers. Madzie, he recalled Alec speaking about her briefly the other day.

The girl turned suddenly upon hearing his approach. Wow, that’s warlock hearing for you, he thought, amused. Usually no other individual would be able to hear his steps, especially when magicked to be silent.

The girl looked scared, staring at him doe-eyed. Slowly, without even taking her eyes off of him, she pulled at her scarf. The essence flowed out from her gills into the air. Magnus looked at her, feeling empathetic. 

Aww, she looks so scared and alone, he thought.

*****

_Madzies’ POV_

She just stared. Nothing was happening to the guy with the spiked hair, even though she had removed her scarf! He did not cough, or fall down. In fact he was just looking at her.

She swallowed hard, this never failed her before. She trembled a little. She did not know what to do next.

The guy started to speak. “Madzie, I’m Magnus. I’m a warlock too. See?” he said slowly. He bent down so she was at her level. She liked that about him at once. Then his eyes flashed gold, and she almost jumped. It was like one of Nana’s cats! She loved cats, that was for sure.

“Those men,” he continued, “they are using you for your power. They are not good men.”

“They said if I would come here to help, they would take me to Nana,” Madzie stated, about to burst into tears.

The man shook his head. “They lied. And bad people lie, right?”

She nodded tearfully.

“ Will you allow me to take you to a safe place?” The man held out both arms. 

Madzie felt a warm feeling in her tummy. She knew she could trust him.

She walked into the man’s welcoming arms, and the arms enclosed her in a warm embrace. Madzie closed her eyes and sighed. She finally felt safe.

She just hoped that the other tall man with the large hazel eyes was also safe. She remembered his wonderful smile. 

_A smile that just lit up her world that day._

A man that had not wanted anything from her. And although he was not a Warlock, he had accepted her for who she was, even though she was different from him.

There was hope, as long as there were people like that tall man in this world.

END


End file.
